Statement of GCC countries on latest developments in Yemen

Riyadh - The Kingdom Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait today issued the following statement:

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait, with great concern and pain, followed the dangerous development of events in the Republic of Yemen, which shook the security of Yemen and its stability through the coup orchestrated by the Al Houthi militias on the legitimacy. Also, this has become a major issue regarding the security and the stability of the region and a threat to world peace and security. Our countries have been expeditious in exerting all the efforts to stand with the neighbourly people of Yemen in order to bring back its security and stability through establishing a political process launched by the Gulf states initiative and executive mechanisms, and to safeguard the region from the repercussions of this coup.

And in this framework, the Gulf Cooperation Council, GCC, responded to the request of His Excellency the President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi, which was introduced on 7th March 2015, requesting the convening of a conference in Riyadh under the umbrella of the GCC to be attended by all political Yemeni parties wishing to preserve the security and stability of Yemen.

And at the time when the preparations were taking place to convene this conference, we received a letter from His Excellency the President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi, and the following is the text of the letter:

Dear Brother the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, The King of the brotherly Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Dear Brother, His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the brotherly United Arab Emirates.

Dear Brother, His Majesty King Hamad Bin Isa Al Khalifa, The King of the brotherly Kingdom of Bahrain.

Dear Brother, His Majesty the Sultan Qaboos Bin Said, The Sultan of the brotherly Oman.

Dear Brother, His Highness Shaikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah, The Emir of the neighbourly State of Kuwait.

Dear Brother, His Highness Shaikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani, The Emir of the brotherly State of Qatar.

Dear Brothers, I write to you this letter with sadness and my heart is overwhelmed with great sadness and sorrow as a result of the security situations in the Republic of Yemen, the result of the enormous deterioration and the great danger due to the ongoing aggressive actions and the continuing violence against the sovereignty of Yemen that the Al Houthi coup orchestrators are undertaking and continuing to undertake with the intention to disintegrate Yemen and to strike its security and stability.

We have exerted all possible efforts to end these Al Houthi criminal sinful aggressions against our people, which left deep wounds in each Yemeni home. We sought with all our power to reach a peaceful solution to get Yemen out from a dark tunnel that the coup Al Houthi orchestrators put the country in, to safeguard our people from the fire of chaos and destruction, and to avoid implicating the country into a war that will burn the entire land that the coup orchestrators sought and continue to seek its ignition.

But our all peaceful efforts and our continuous determination faced a categorical refusal by the Al Houthi coup orchestrators who are continuing their transgressions to bring the remaining region and especially in the south under their control, which led the Republic of Yemen to go through the most difficult conditions in its history. The people of Yemen, who abide by our Islamic religion, have never witnessed such a similar sinful aggression, which is refuted by Islamic principles and traditions as well as International charters. This sinful aggression executed by internal Militias supported by forces from within who sold their conscience and are only concerned about their self-interests, and also supported by regional powers, whose objective is to dominate this country and to make it a base for their dominance in the region. This threat is not only menacing the security of Yemen only, but also the security of the entire region as well as the world peace and security.

In the face of these serious developments, and the keenness on Yemen's security and stability and the security of the region and international peace and security, and the protection of the Yemeni brave people who pay a heavy price as a result of the Al Houthi coup, it is out of my constitutional responsibilities that necessitate that I have to take care of people and the preservation of the nation's unity, independence and territorial integrity, and taking into account what has been and is being carried out by Al Houthi militias by way of aggressive acts, the most recent one is monitoring military convoys destined to attack Aden and seize it and the rest of the South, and the announcement of the criminal militias of their intentions to move militarily towards the south which was confirmed by the recent report of the special envoy of the Secretary-General of the United Nations submitted to the Security Council, including the confirmation that the so-called Al Houthi Revolutionary Committee has issued an appeal for public mobilization in the military units controlled by it in the north in preparation for the campaign on the south, and the report also confirmed that Al Houthis are continuing their occupation of government institutions and expansion into new areas, despite repeated demands by the Security Council, and that Air Force aircraft seized by the Al Houthis are continuing to fly over and bombard the city of Aden, which is considered a serious unprecedented escalation.

And as the United Nations envoy's report has confirmed that the Al Houthis began to move now toward the south, Lahaj and Aden, and that fears spread of the exploitation of Al Qaeda of the current instability to provoke further chaos which makes the country slide toward more violent conflict and fragmentation, I appeal to you my brothers and your sisterly nations to stand - as you have accustomed us always - by the Yemeni people for the protection of Yemen, and I ask you, based on the principle of self-defence in Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, and on the basis of the Charter of the Arab League and the treaty of joint Arab defence, to provide instant support by all necessary means, including military intervention to protect Yemen and its people from continuous Al Houthi aggression and deter the expected attack to occur at any hour on the city of Aden and the rest of the southern regions, and to help Yemen in the face of Al Qaeda and ISIS.

The Yemeni people will not forget the standing of his brothers by its side in these difficult circumstances and threats to it.

In conclusion, I assure that the Yemeni people's trust in Allah Almighty will never be shaken, and would remain committed to their national fundamentals imposed to make it dearly in order to maintain the pride and dignity of the nation and its sovereignty.

Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi, March 24, 2015.'

Emanating from our responsibilities for the brotherly people of Yemen and as a response to the contents of President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi's letter to provide all instant necessary means and measures to protect Yemen and its people from aggression of Al Houthi militias backed by regional powers aimed at hegemony on Yemen and make it a base for influence in the region, making the threat not confined to Yemen's security, stability and sovereignty, but has become a comprehensive threat to the security of the region and international peace and security, in addition to his request for providing help for Yemen against terrorist organizations.

As the assaults affected also the territory of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and our countries have become facing a continuing threat to their security and stability due to the presence of heavy weapons and long and short range missiles outside the control of the legitimate authority, and due to these serious risks, and in the light of Al Houthi militias' non response to the repeated warnings by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) for Arab States and the Security Council in addition to the continuing abuses of international law and international norms by Al Houthi militias and their continuation of armed build-up including heavy weapons and missiles on the borders of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and as a result of their carrying out recently a large military manoeuvres with live ammunition near the border of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, during which all kinds of medium and heavy weapons, have been used, revealing the intentions of these Al Houthi militias in repeating their blatant aggression that it committed without any justification when it attacked territory of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia during November 2009, our nations have decided to respond to the request of President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi of the Republic of Yemen to protect Yemen and its dear people from Al Houthi militias' aggression, which was and is still a tool in the hands of foreign powers that did not stop tampering with the security and stability of brotherly Yemen.

We pray to Allah Almighty to preserve Yemen and its brotherly people and protect it from seditions and foreign interference, which does not want the good neither for Yemen nor our countries, also praying for restoring security and stability to the dear people of Yemen.